Worms Battlegrounds

Editor's Notes

Xbox One version reviewed.

Introduction

Longtime indie Team 17 does what it does by gracing our new consoles with their first 'Worms' title, 'Worms Battlegrounds.' Coming off a game engine switch from the last installment, 'Worms Battlegrounds' has been billed as the biggest and best 'Worms' to date, which is a tall order.  The series has long continued to get players embroiled in a conflict of artillery and troops of worms, and the ascension of online multiplayer gaming in the console space has meant more players discovering the PC staple of addictive online strategy. This 'Worms' title even has a camapign. Now it's time to fire up a new console and see how the turn-based combat, physics, weapons, and multiplayer all shake out. The online arena is major feature, and it's where clans of up to eight players can accrue points over seasons of ranked play, striving to climb ladders and jump divisions.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Worms' is one of those franchises that, once infected into a gamer's preferences, remains steady so long as there's somebody else to play against. It's more akin to a good board game than those virtual stories we often refer to as the best of video games; it's a mainstay, and Team 17 knows it. They've thrived, suffered and somehow continued on the back of battling bugs throughout the years, so rarely changing in a significant way, yet so rarely needing to.

Still, in 2012 'Worms Revolution' attempted a few significant upgrades, throwing slip-sliding water physics and worm classes into the mix, and for many 'Worms' fans it was a welcome enhancement, enforcing new strategies and thus new experiences. 'Worms Battlegrounds,' the first of the franchise on Xbox One and PS4, continues in the same vain as 'Worms Revolution,' but feels markedly less revolutionary as a result. We're back, it seems, to subtly changed repeats of the same thing.

As usual, the core objective remains exactly the same. Teams of four or so worms are spread across a two-dimensional, destructible landscape, tasked with blowing eachother up, turn-by-turn, worm-by-worm, using an amusing and satisfying arsenal of grenades, bazookas, shotguns, airstrikes and explosive sheep, grandmas and bulls. Those are but a few of the wacky, lethal weapons. As usual, the simple joy of exploding an enemy worm remains exactly the same.

Like 'Revolution,' water plays a large part in the arsenal now. Using water bombs, guns and airstrikes to slip an enemy over a cliff and into the larger, immediately fatal ocean on either side of a stage is only the beginning. Slowly drowning worms in a hole of their own making or guiding explosive mines into a collision course are part of the nuance employed by the slightly more experienced players, and it becomes clear that adding water was just about the most brilliant thing Team 17 has done since the franchise's inception. It holds as an interesting tactical element – the most interesting, in fact – which counts both for and against the new title. The truly new additions, the things that set 'Battlegrounds' apart from 'Revolutions,' aren't so deserving of high praise.

Take the single-player campaign as an example. Somehow, in spite of everyone, Team 17 has held on to the idea that a 'Worms' campaign is a good idea as anything other than a tutorial. Annoying, barely comical narration over-explains a needless story, sends you on a collection of missions that throw out the basic ideas of turn-based combat, instead opting for puzzle-like scenarios with exactly one solution. Inch your worm over here, blow this guy up, jump over this gap, ninja rope up that cavern. The exacting nature of the solutions renders these scenarios an absolute waste of time, and then completely monotonous as the deadpan narrator strains for humor.

Along side the campaign are Worm Ops missions, which lazily utilize the same overworld map as the campaign, yet finally edges back into tutorial territory. Thankfully, everything else about the game is multiplayer-focused, as it should be.

'Battlegrounds' allows players to clan up and earn points through ranked matches for a cumulative total. Clans are broken up into divisions, and it's your job to get to the top and move on to silver or gold. While nothing about this system changes the fundamentals of the game, the opportunity to find allies in what is usually a pretty antagonistic experience definitely brightens the mood, and so far it seems the community has taken to it.

There is a problem with the online infrastructure though. The net code is serviceable, as it only needs to be for a turn-based title, but the actual modes on offer needlessly compete with each other in a way that makes it impossible to find certain kinds of games, namely (my favorite), Forts. The bottom line is Team 17 built in way too many ways to get into a match – ranked play, player matches, both of which house forts and deathmatch, and battlegrounds ranked and battlegrounds player matches all get you to the same kind of match, so you've got a community of players split on how they approach their own community.

Ranked matches attached to leaderboards, in light of the entire Battlegrounds mode, seem completely redundant. Forts mode, which isn't playable in Battlegrounds, then gets shunted as players shift over. Currently, the highest rated Forts player on the leaderboards has 57 points. The eight ranked player has 10 points.

Of course, beyond all that troublesome match variety, it's worth repeating that the 'Worms' multiplayer experience remains largely intact. Of the new weapons, the teleport gun, which zaps your worm into whatever wall you hit and can be used over and over again until the worm lands on the ground, is the new ninja rope and thus a wonderful favorite of mine. Drowning worms is sadistic fun.

The classes are interesting to screw around with, their differences enhanced (the soldier can blow grenades with the tap of a button, the heavy guy does more damage and makes a huge explosion upon death, etc.), though it's clear a lot of player are leaning towards the two mentioned. The scout doesn't really offset his lowered damage output with faster movement, and the scientist's stronger emplacements aren't even remotely appealing.

The issue is that an upolished installment so far along in the franchise's life only feels like a disappointment; a rush job for the new consoles.